Cultural Interpretations and Comparisons of the Works of Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo
This study aims to determine the cultural content that can be derived from two of the most notable writers from the Silk Road era: Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta. My data was gathered from primary sources: The Travels of Marco Polo and The Travels of Ibn Battuta, AD 1325-1354. While both excursionists illustrate the cultural societies that they may have interacted with, Ibn Battuta’s descriptions exemplify less religious bias than those of Marco Polo and we can therefore derive more accurate Eastern cultural substance from Battuta’s interactions and more of the Western orientalist view from Polo’s.
Keywords: Ibn Battuta, Marco Polo, History
Topic(s):History
Anthropology
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 108-4
Location: VH 1224
Time: 8:45